Kimberly Blessing is a computer scientist, a Web developer, a standards evangelist, a feminist, and a geek. This is where she writes about life, technology, women's issues, and whatever else comes to mind.
Yes, I wish I were talking about Hillary! But I’m not.
Instead I’m talking about the ACM elections, and the woman I’m referring to is Wendy Hall, CBE, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the British Computer Society, co-founding director of the Web Science Research Initiative, and (if you couldn’t tell) one of my role models. So the votes have been counted and, come July 1, Wendy will also serve a two-year term as President of the ACM. Congratulations!
And speaking of GHC, I also need to mention that registration for the 2008 conference is now open! After so many years of attending, stalking Telle Whitney, and volunteering, this year I’m finally going to be speaking on a panel! (Go me!) So, don’t miss this opportunity to interact with thousands of smart, successful, techie women — including Fran Allen!
Software programmer Sara Chipps (yay! a woman!) has written an article titled Natural Programmers (Code Monkeys) vs. Career Programmers (Geeks in Suits). It’s probably the best non-techie explanation of the behaviors, habits, and beliefs of the “natural programmer” that I’ve read — and yes, I completely identified with much of what she wrote.
However, I have to take a step back and address an issue that I have with the two types of programmers she defines and the names she assigns to them.
First there’s the “career programmer (geek in a suit)”. These days I find that career programmers are not geeks, and they’re definitely not in suits (always business casual!). I’ve found that they’re in programming for the money; they learn enough to do their work — perhaps well, maybe even to get to the point of being perceived as geeky. But I also find that these people lack a true passion for the craft of writing code. Sara suggests that the career programmer is more of a business person, concerned with cost effective solutions, but I’m not even sure that’s true anymore. To me, this person’s work is just a job, and if flipping burgers paid as much as programming, they might be doing that instead.
Like Sara, I fall into her other category of “natural programmer”. But I am certainly not a code monkey — I am a code ninja! (Actually, with a nickname like “Obi-Wan Kimberly”, I’m probably a code jedi, but anyway…) I find the term “code monkey” to apply more to the previous category of programmer. Why? “Code monkey” implies that anyone can do what we do and that we work for bananas. “Code ninja”, on the other hand, says that we’re stealth and secretive, jumping out of the darkness when you least expect it. Our code takes you by surprise in its brilliance and our swiftness of execution is legendary. We could do no other job because we have trained for so long, perfecting our natural talent, and nothing else can satisfy our need for control over the systems we affect.
Sara closes her article with some OR logic about which type to hire, however I need to propose a more detailed and different solution. If you have only one programmer working for you, you probably don’t want either of these types — you need someone who really does fall into the gray area between the two extremes. (Yes, they are out there!) And if you have a team of programmers, you need a mix of these two types, and you need to put effort into getting them to communicate effectively with one another. Only then will you have both a killer team and killer code.
We’re pleased to let you know that the robot platform we developed for CS-1 instruction is now available for purchase.
The $149.95 platform includes a Parallax Scribbler robot, with an add on board developed at Georgia Tech. The complete diff-drive robot then includes: a color camera, bluetooth connectivity, a speaker, light sensors, and line sensors.
The robot can be controlled and programmed from a PC in Python using the Myro package developed at Bryn Mawr (included with the robot).
It is all part of our new curriculum for CS-1 centered on a robot context. The new textbook is also available online at our website.
This video was just too good to be left in my sidebar; the sheer fact that it exists mandated a full entry for it and its hilarity makes watching it a moral imperative.
Watch as a young(er) David Letterman is upstaged by Grace Hopper, not long after her retirement in 1986. My favorite part? Dave asks, “How did you know so much about computers then?” and Grace replies, “I didn’t. It was the first one!”
OK, so it’s not exactly the return of Chris Knight… but that was my first thought when I heard that Val Kilmer was going to make a guest appearance on the season premiere of Numb3rs next week.
Val Kilmer played Chris Knight in Real Genius, one of the best geek movies of all time. The movie takes place at a CalTech-like school, where Chris is a legendary math/science student and one of the top 10 minds in America (soon hoping to be two of them). Since Numb3rs also takes place at a CalTech-like school, I could’ve seen a story where Chris Knight visits and helps Charlie Eppes solve some big mathematical problem… but alas, that is not to be.
As it turns out, Kilmer will play Mason Lancer, the mastermind behind the events of last season that led to the discovery that Agent Colby Granger (Dylan Bruno) was a mole within the FBI. Now Granger has escaped from FBI custody, and it is up to Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) and the rest of his team, including his mathematician brother, Charlie (David Krumholtz), to track him down and unravel the mystery.
Duran Duran » A Blog from Nick The Durans have a record player in their dressing room, and they listen to a different album before each show. Nick ends by suggesting what I always tell people... go back and listen to your vinyl. You'll appreciate your music so much more...
Science Has Become the New Frontier for Title Nine Under Title IX, US government agencies have set up programs to look for sexual discrimination at universities receiving federal grants... in science.
Zimbabwe introduces $100 billion banknotes Roughly equal to one US dollar, they're not even enough to buy a loaf of bread. Inflation in Zimbabwe is officially 2,200,000% but other estimates put it at 9,030,000%.
Women break to front of tech It's nice to see that a national newspaper with fairly broad readership has this type of coverage, and that it doesn't paint women in tech as the odd ducks.
